It didn't seem possible after the orgiastic, wall-to-wall mecha-techno excesses of Transformers (2007), but arthouse film director Michael Bay has managed to top himself with this deliriously over-the-top demolition derby of a sequel. Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen (***1/2, 150 mins, M) is not only bigger, louder, longer with hotter chicks and better effects, it features something nobody who saw the first Transformers film would have thought possible - an even worse lead performance from Shia LaBeouf.

Now, without challenge, the blandest actor of his generation, the shrill, monotonal, hyper-caffeinated LaBeouf heads off to college to the delight of his delightful dad (Kevin Dunn), who is keen to turn his vacant bedroom into a home theatre. But it's not long before Shia's pet Transformer Bumblebee - the one that doubles as his car - turns up on campus to take him and his gleaming girlfriend (Megan Fox) on another max-FX adventure involving the Autobots (good transformers) doing war with the Decepticons (bad transformers), chiefly in Egypt where the truth about the pyramids is finally revealed.

Transformers II is a perfect example of a "post-content" movie - that is, a piece of bubblegum mass-entertainment designed to sell popcorn where story is merely there to serve spectacle, and where critical grumbles about style over substance, inordinate length and Shia LaBeuf's exponentially irritating screen presence count as nothing against the film's primary duty, which is to positively overwhelm the senses of its teen demographic with action, explosions, chases, crashes, shouting, shooting and a singularly memorable climax involving a over-sized giant transfomer that is so morbidly obese it requires the aid of giant grappling hooks to climb a pyramid.

While watching this epic about a breed of evil robots seeking to destroy all human life and claim dominion over the earth, one can't help but be reminded of another film. Indeed, one wonders: if pitted against each other in a one-off, no-holds-barred smackdown to the death, which film would emerge triumphant and which would lie dead and crushed under foot in the sand?

So, to settle the matter once and for all, and without any further ado, CineTopia presents a Top Ten Special Event:

9. Anne of Green Gables uses her innocence and charm to disarm her adversaries. Decepticons use rockets and machine guns and blow stuff up.

8. Despite being rescued from the river by the handsome Gilbert, Anne of Green Gables continues to hold a grudge against him for being as smart as she is at school. Megan Fox would have "thanked him" properly.

7. Typical line from Anne of Green Gables: "This is a wound I shall bear forever." Typical line from Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen: "Nyaaaaaarghhh!"

6. Anne of Green Gables uses her orphan status to feign ignorance when making excuses for jumping on an old woman. When Decepticons jump on people no excuses are necessary.

4. When emotionally manipulating people, Anne of Green Gables subtlely employs flattery and wily appeals for sympathy. The subtlest thing in Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen is a somersaulting army tank.

3. In one humourous scene, Anne of Green Gables accidentally gets her best friend Diana Barry drunk on currant wine. Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen does not even try to score cheap laughs by showing teenage characters enjoying alcohol.

2. Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen features cars and trucks that miraculously transform into giant robots. The only transforming Anne of Green Gables does is when she colours her red hair green, then chops it off.

1. Anne of Green Gables saves the life of one baby. In Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen the Autobots join forces with the US and British armed forces to save the whole world.

In what is turning out to be a triumphant year for featherweight comedies, the formulaic Sandra Bullock rom-com The Proposal bowed at No.1 with a $3.4 million ($4.8m for the week) take across 280 screens while the latest Jack Black romp Year One debuted at No.3(4) with $1.9($2.4) million over 185 screens. Neatly sandwiched between them to complete the light-headed trifecta was The Hangover, which registered a powerful second weekend with $3.2(4.3) million across 227 screens, saw a microscopic audience drop of 7(11)% and a rung up a strong per-site score of $14,165 ($18,691). A new Australian film again ruled the arthouse circuit with the excellent drama Disgrace opening at No.11(12) with $209,014 ($284,848) over a limited release of 24 screens with a per-site of $8709 ($11,869). Samson & Delilah continues to do well taking $146,955 ($214,900) over 38 screens for a healthy total of $2.2(2.3) million while Sarah Watt's My Year Without Sex continues to edge lower, taking $74,532 ($102,722) on 23 screens (down two) for a total of $741,321 ($769,511).

Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen opened Wednesday, a day earlier than usual and managed the No.3 berth by taking a swift $2.66 million when it spilled across a super-wide 430 multiplex screens. This, according to a breathless press release from Paramount, clocks in as the biggest opening day of the year. Rumours persist that the marketing strategy for Transformers II is to try and get the jump on Hannah Montana - the Movie. If history is any guide, Hannah will give Megatron and Bumblebee a run for their money.

By the Numbers - The Top 20

Box Office Table: Thursday 18 June - Wednesday 24 June, 2009

Rank; Last Wk; Title; Rtg; Distributor; Wks in Release; Total; Chg; Sites; Site Avg; Sites Last Wk; Site Chg; BO Last Wk; Total to Date

CineTopia stresses that box-office performance does not automatically reflect the quality of a film. This data is provided chiefly for your information, but should you have any views, reviews or questions regarding these films and figures they are most welcome.

After spending two weeks on the naughty step as punishment by ABC management for their now-infamous Make-A-Realistic Wish sketch, The Chaser returned last night, a little funnier and a lot wiser.

Clearly anxious to dissuade many former fans from adhering to their pledge never to watch the show again, the team was hot on the "please tune in" trail throughout Wednesday (24 June, 2009). Executive producer Julian Morrow appeared on ABC 774's afternoon program with Richard Stubbs claiming that they had learnt their lesson and would sharpen their focus on more deserving targets.

More impressive was team member Craig Reucassel. Speaking on the 3AW morning show with Nick McCallum, Reucassel did a very good job of sounding genuinely contrite over their gaffe and said they were all eager to get back to what The Chaser do best, which is skewering those public figures and institutions people want to see skewered.

Questions

So what did you think of The Chaser's return? Was it funny? What did you think of their humble pie eating? Do they still have their edge? Have you forgiven them? Or are you one of the former fans who has stuck by the ban? Did you change your mind or modify your view about the incident during the two-week "rest" break? Or are you still put off?

SPECIAL SCHEMBRI NOTE: A terrific letter here from Kath Shelper, producer of Samson & Delilah. She is responding to a comment I made regarding the threadbare marketing strategy for the film and how it "got lucky" with positive press coverage, and to a writer's remark about the relationship between box office and profit. Ms Shelper is clarifying the situation with some valuable insights and a few poignant facts. She also makes some kind references to my pieces on the film. Normally these would have been rigourously edited out but have been left in on this occasion, partly to help illustrate her point but chiefly to rekindle the rapidly cooling embers of what used to be my pathetic journalistic ego. - Jim S

Hey Jim

Kath here, producer of Samson & Delilah. Just thought I would put my 2 cents into the discussion on this rainy Sydney afternoon while I'm procrastinating about cleaning the bathroom.

First - Marketing the film.

There was little paid advertising for the S&D release campaign, however there was a very strategic and well-executed marketing plan for the film that still continues now.

Australian films are expensive to release here because we're starting from scratch with the materials required (trailer, poster, EPK, media kits, websites etc). Foreign films (including US blockbusters) usually arrive here pre-packaged and ready to go. Australian distributors don't have big budgets for loads of advertising and the release, so they have to be smart to make an impression in the marketplace.

With us, we made the film for a small budget to allow us the freedom to make the film we wanted to make (without spending a disproportionate amount to the potential audience). We wanted to carry that philosophy through to the distribution. For us that meant a lot of grass roots marketing work to get the word of mouth going on the film - and we started doing this work before the film premiered at Adelaide Film Fest in February.

Our distributor assembled a large and dedicated crew of people to do the work, including myself and Warwick. The thing we got lucky about was that critics and audiences were ready to embrace the film and wanted other people to see it and told them so. There was heaps of marketing and, in fact, you were part of it! (You must have seen the "Jim says better than sliced bread" postcards?!) But, seriously, thank you for spreading the word about your thoughts on the film.

And there were many others. If the film hadn't impressed critics and audiences alike, no amount of paid advertising would have saved the film - we would have just been drowning in more debt.

Second - Box office returns.

They tell me the general rule of thumb with Australian films is that they need to make 3.5 to 4 times their budget to break even. About one third or less of the box office is returned to our distributor, he takes his fee and the marketing/distribution costs from that and if there's any left it goes back to the investors.

We're obviously a long way from breaking even, but what is a great achievement for Warwick and me (and was one of our goals in making the film) was to make more at the box office in dollar terms than what the film cost to make. Check that box - and we are forever grateful to the Australian public for going to see the film and embracing the ideas explored in it.

Yes, it was cool to go to Cannes and win the award, but what means more to us is that Aussies are watching the film.

Shameless plug: Keep an eye out for the doco, Making Samson and Delilah, that Beck Cole (Warwick's wife, pictured right with Shelper, seated) is making about the making of the film - it's a corker (funny, affectionate, insightful). It'll be on ABC TV toward the end of the year, but it might pop up somewhere unexpected before then. Our marketing department will let you know!

Second shameless plug: Soundtrack out on ABC Music this Friday 26th June.

Back to cleaning the bathroom now.

All the best,

Kath.

Questions

What do you think about Kath Shelper's letter? Should more money be allocated to marketing a film? Do too many Australian films rely on word-of-mouth marketing strategies? Or is that appropriate for an arthouse film?

And what is the deal with Kath Shelper's bathroom? What condition must it be in that she has to put off cleaning it?

In the new romantic comedy The Proposal, which is sort of like an unofficial remake of Peter Weir's Green Card, Sandra Bullock plays a high-powered New York executive who has to feign marriage to a nervous underling (played by Ryan Reynolds) to avoid being deported back to her native Canada.

The opening scenes show her as a pushy, stone-faced, no-nonsense, head-lopping go-getter whose insistence on wearing ultra-high heels and cork-screwing herself into pencil-thin skirts signals an underlying insecurity about her sense of self. For her, being a bitch is the starter's gate for her character arc, which evolves from being the type of woman you would happily spill acid on to a more caring, sharing, lovable type of woman.

There's also a wonderfully mono-dimensional bitch in the comedy hit The Hangover, who pops up as the ball-busting fiance to a sheepish, pussy-whipped man who is so weak-willed he has to lie to her just so he can join his friends at a bachelor party in Las Vegas. In this story, the bitch functions as the reference point for the doormat against which his ability to stand up for himself will be measured by film's end.

A good movie bitch is always great to watch, and they have long served as plot engines and foils for over-confident men. So in loving tribute to the classic films and fun times they have given us here now is CineTopia's definitive list of the Top Ten Movie Bitchs of All Time.

Challenge it if you dare.

Enjoy.

10. Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen) - Death Race (2008): She tries killing Jason Statham who is driving fast cars around a futuristic prison. And she swears. And dies in a fireball. Perfect.

9. Veda (Ann Blyth) - Mildred Pierce (1945): Never mind Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Joan Crawford had to deal with one of the most infuriating spoilt brats in film history. Veda's discovery that mother Joan is secretly working as a waitress to provide for her many demands remains a sterling portrait of what it is to be an ungrateful little bitch.

8. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) - The Devil Wears Prada (2006): Why are all successful corporate women in movies such bitches? Who cares, so long as they're this funny - and have a heart of gold.

7. Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) - Network (1976): As a voraciously ambitious TV executive who has no life but her work, Dunaway delivered an early, disturbingly prescient backhander to the new-born feminist ideal of the career woman. "You are television incarnate," William Holden tells her. It earned an Oscar..

6. Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore) - Disclosure (1994): After being sexually rejected by married man Michael Douglas she accuses him of sexual harassment and tries to ruin his career. How more definitive a bitch could you ask for?

5. Alicia Clark (Glenn Close) - The Paper (1994): As a newspaper editor who has to make tough decisions and sacrifice office friendships to keep her ailing paper afloat Close sells that rarest of all things - a bitch for whom you have real sympathy.

4. Hedy Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) - Single White Female (1992): What's that? You don't like the fact that I'm trying to ruin your relationship with your girlfriend by pretending to be her and performing oral sex? OK then. Here's a stiletto heel in the eyeball. How do you like that?

1. Nurse Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher) - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975): As the fascistic, cold-hearted, manipulative, power-mad mental institute nurse Louise Fletcher gave us what is - without question - the ultimate embodiment of the classic movie bitch. Universally despised, the role earned Fletcher a richly deserved Best Actress Oscar and her poisonous performance remains undiminished 35 years on. Never has any movie character been strangled on screen to such cheers from the audience.

Check it Out

In one of the ultimate bitch scenes in film history, Baby Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) serves her imprisoned sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) some dinner. It still sends a chill.

Questions

How much of this Top Ten do you agree with? This list claims, quite brazenly, to be definitive - but is it? What other movie bitches deserve to be here? Who is your favourite movie bitch? What makes a good movie bitch? Should we count psychopaths as bitches? And what do you look for in a movie bitch? Do you like it when they evolve into better people? Or do you prefer them to remain bad to the bone?

The combination of saturation marketing and featherweight, recession-busting appeal helped push the crass comedy of The Hangover to No.1, bumping techno-blockbuster Terminator Salvation with a $3.4 million debut weekend, packing 226 screens and registering a per-site score of $15,234.

Interest in Terminator Salvation dropped off by a massive 64%, taking $2.3 million over its second weekend for a total $11.1 million.

The new Will Ferrell chewing gum hit Land of the Lost bowed at No.3 with $1.5 million across 194 screens while Sunshine Cleaning made a big impression on the arthouse circuit, taking $196,559 on 55 screens.

The Australian dramedy My Year Without Sex took $96,642 in its third weekend across 25 screens, registering an audience slide of 38% for a total of $628,794. It will struggle to clear a million. Meanwhile Samson & Delilah hit a clean $2 million in its sixth week, taking a very healthy $206,798 on 38 screens.

By the Numbers - The Top 20

Box Office Table: Thursday 11 June - Wednesday 17 June, 2009

Rank; Last Wk; Title; Rtg; Distributor; Wks in Release; Total; Chg; Sites; Site Avg; Sites Last Wk; Site Chg; BO Last Wk; Total to Date

CineTopia stresses that box-office performance does not automatically reflect the quality of a film. This data is provided chiefly for your information, but should you have any views, reviews or questions regarding these films and figures they are most welcome.

The new hit comedy I Love You, Man may well have helped popularise the new-mill term "bromance" but the concept is certainly nothing new to cinema. The powerful bonds of friendship, respect and fraternal affection that can form between two men has long been the cornerstone on which many great dramas and comedies have been built.

Even men who are technically enemies can propel a film with their "bromance". In the classic 1957 Dick Powell war movie The Enemy Below, an American destroyer captain (Robert Mitchum) engages in a cat-and-mouse battle of wits with a German U-boat commander (Kurt Jurgens). Though these men are at war the film's final scene, which puts them in the same frame for the first time, shows how even adversaries can be bonded by the warrior's code where values of respect, duty and compassion overwhelm any notions of hatred.

So here, without any further ado, is CineTopia's Top Ten Bromance Movies. Please enjoy.

10. Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas (Charles Grodin) & Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) - MIDNIGHT RUN (1988): At first De Niro's ex-cop bounty hunter can't stand the constant yabbering and probing from Grodin, an accountant who showed his objection to having the mafia as a client by donating $15 million of mob money to charity. But during their comic journey from New York to LA Grodin picks away at De Niro's conscience by persuading him that, rather than serving the law he is effectively helping the criminal (Dennis Farina) who ran him out of the Chicago police department. Their final scene at LAX where De Niro has to choose between his integrity and a huge financial pay-off is an ending of which Shakespeare would have been proud. De Niro's final line - "Looks like I'm walking" - is also one of the best movie closers ever.

9. Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) & Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) - CHASING AMY (1997): It's often the case in bromance movies that the friendship between two men is ruptured by one of them getting involved with a woman who the other man sees as a threat. In this case, writer/director Kevin Smith complicates the relationship between a Catholic cartoonist (Affleck) and his colleague (Lee) with an attractive blonde who is prepared to give up her lesbian ways to be with Affleck. The fast-mouthed Lee senses an agenda-hiding troublemaker and their friendship hits the skids.
Smith has become something of a bromance expert (see Clerks entry) and here he bravely challenges the idea that all genuine bromances are platonic. Though it doesn't quite work, the homo-erotic subtext is something that does underpin some - though certainly not all - bromance pictures.

8. Tyler Durden (Edward Norton) & Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) FIGHT CLUB (1999): Sometimes the best friend a man can have is the one he tailor makes for himself in his own head. Norton is a no-name shlub whose soul-destroying, dead-end job doing accident reports for a major car company is spiced up when he meets a soap-making maverick with a taste for organised punch-ups and urban terrorism (Pitt). But this attractive, rule-hating rebel is Norton's Id made manifest. "When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you," said philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and so Norton discovers in the unforgettable climax as he watches the controlled demolition of skyscrapers, one of the most haunting cinematic foreshadows of 9/11.

7.Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) & Lieutenant Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky (Val Kilmer) - TOP GUN (1986): With jet planes as flying phallic symbols and adrenalin-pumped dialogue about the sexual thrill of combat, this is mainstream Hollywood's shining B-grade masterpiece where bromance and homo-erotic subtext collide in an orgy of fraternal overkill. The rivalry between hot-headed, rule-breaking navy pilot Maverick (Cruise) and the cool-tempered, rule-loving Iceman (Kilmer) morphs into the bond of brothers-in-battle, something the couple only realise post-dogfight as they face each other on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. "You can be my wingman any time," says Iceman. "Bullshit. You can be mine," replies Maverick. Then they hug. They don't kiss, but they come close.

6. Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) & Joe Buck (Jon Voight) - MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969): Out-doing Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau by several orders of magnitude, this oddest of odd couplings saw a Texan gigolo with an exaggerated twang (Voight) and a sickly, opportunistic street hustler pair up in the streets of New York to eke out a place in a cold city, and each other's lives. A near-brilliant study in the emotional dynamics of co-dependence, the notion that opposites attract never served the bromance genre better than in this John Schelsinger classic, the only X-rated film ever to win a Best Picture Oscar.

5. Randal (Jeff Anderson) & Dante (Brian O'Halloran) - CLERKS (1994): In Kevin Smith's gloriously foul-mouthed, definitive slacker movie, a convenience store register jockey (O'Halloran) with no ambition, prospects or motivation is shaken from his suburban stupor when he learns that a beloved, promiscuous ex-girlfriend is about to get married. His main problem isn't that he already has a girlfriend but that his best friend (Anderson), who runs the video store next door, doesn't like his flip-flop mindset. The love between these two twentysomethings might not be sexual, but it is powerful enough for Randal to warn his pal's new/old beau: "Hurt him and I'll kill you." Why is he so protective, she asks. "Territoriality. I saw him first." It's the manlove that dares speak its name, loudly and with death threats.

4. Francis Lionel 'Lion' Delbuchi (Al Pacino) & Max Millan (Gene Hackman) - SCARECROW (1973): Sometimes the bond that keeps men together is the mutual, unspoken realisation that the only thing protecting them from a cold, brutal world is the warmth of their friendship. Making his way to Pittsburgh to fulfill his modest dream of opening a car wash, former convict Max (Hackman) has to put up with the hyper-energetic, wise-cracking nuisance of Pacino's frustrated father. Yet Max warms to him and eventually calls him friend. Why? "Because you gave me your last match. And you made me laugh." One of the great bromance lines of all time.

3.Jonathan E (James Caan) & Moonpie (John Beck) - ROLLERBALL (1975): In Norman Jewison's presicent futuristic dystopian nightmare, corporations run the world and have replaced war with a violent game that crosses the roller derby with extreme wrestling. The game is designed to promote the value of teamwork, but when individualistic world champion rollerballer Jonathan E (Caan) bucks the system and refuses to retire, his best friend Moonpie is punched into a coma by a Tokyo player. Jonathan exacts revenge by killing the assailant, refusing to pull the plug on Moonpie's life support and being the sole survivor in a final, murderous game. Greater love hath no man than this, that he should defy all authority for his fellow rollerballer.

2. Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) & Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) HEAT (1995): Michael Mann's elongated crime drama stands as one of modern cinema's best examples of sworn adversaries sharing a bromance defined by professional respect. Pacino is the dogged cop with the hair-trigger temper trying to nail De Niro's meticulous heist-master. The moral chasm between cop and robber dissolves when they sit down for coffee and articulate the admiration each has been developing for the other during their cop-crim dance. Their final showdown at the airport serves as both a fitting action highlight and as a metaphorical consummation of their relationship. No cop ever put a bullet in a bad guy with more regret. He clearly would have preferred another coffee.

1. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) & Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) - 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968): They barely exchange any personal dialogue, but the two astronauts aboard the deep-space ship Discovery share the strongest of all possible bonds. With their colleagues in hyper-sleep, each is the other's only human companion as their on-board computer HAL watches over them with an increasingly evil eye. Proof of their love comes when HAL sends Frank twirling off into the void and Dave flies off after him in the pod. He knows his friend is dead and that retrieving his body will serve no useful purpose. Yet he goes anyway. That's what brothers do.

Questions

What do you think of this list? As with all top tens it is far-from-definitive. What other bromance films deserve mention? Do you have a favourite bromance movie? Is there a female equivalent to the bromance genre? And what is it about war and adversity that brings men together?

Australians celebrated the Queen's Birthday long weekend by crowding into cinemas to witness Christian Bale do battle with giant killer robots, so making Terminator Salvation the new box office king with a blockbuster take of $7.7 million across 386 screens and registering a packed per-site score of $20,052.

This ended the two-week reign of Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum 2, which dropped to No.2 taking a none-too-shabby $3.2m for a mammoth total of $12.9m.

The bromance comedy of I Love You, Man offered a healthy alternative to all the fireballs and digital effects, bowing at No.3 with a tally of $2 million over 186 screens while the Michael Caine film Is Anybody There? debuted strongly at the arthouses with $190,392 on 32 screens.

The well-reviewed drama Two Lovers, starring a pre-crazy Joaquin Phoenix, showed great potential, opening with $49,028 on a mere three screens with a high per-site figure of $16,343. The holiday weekend was very good to Sarah Watt's My Year Without Sex, which took $199,625 over 25 screens, its two-week total touching half a million. Meanwhile, Samson & Delilah continues powering on. Jumping a spot to No.7, the film took $384,472, grew its audience by 12%, added 19 screens to 38, and rung up a five-week total of $1.7 million.

By the Numbers - The Top 20

Box Office Table: Thursday 4 June - Wednesday 10 June, 2009

Rank; Last Wk; Title; Rtg; Distributor; Wks in Release; Total; Chg; Sites; Site Avg; Sites Last Wk; Site Chg; BO Last Wk; Total to Date

CineTopia stresses that box-office performance does not automatically reflect the quality of a film. This data is provided chiefly for your information, but should you have any views, reviews or questions regarding these films and figures they are most welcome.

SPECIAL NOTE: The response to this piece has been extremely strong and passionate, covering all aspects of the debate. The most consistent observation being made by people who are, or were, fans is that this latest incident is symptomatic of a steady decline in the quality of The Chaser. That is a generalisation, however, with many people defending the skit and their work. Please keep your thoughts coming. Thank you. - Jim S

NEWS UPDATE: The Chaser's War on Everything has been pulled from the ABC schedule for the next two weeks. It is slated to return on Wednesday 24 June. The decision by ABC management, announced on Friday evening (5 June, 2009), is intended to acknowledge the degree of public outrage over the skit and to help take some steam out of the issue while The Chaser team considers the nature of its program and the ABC reviews its editorial protocols regarding its level of commitment to quality control.

NEWS UPDATE II: The Chaser team has issued a public apology on their website, which appeared Saturday morning (6 June, 2009). To view it, please go here. The text appears in the body of the story below. Views on the apology are most welcome.

NEWS UPDATE III: ABC managing director Mark Scott announced on Wednesday evening (10 June) that its Head of Arts, Entertainment and Comedy, Amanda Duthie, had been stripped of her comedy stripes for allowing the "Make A Realistic Wish" skit to go to air. She remains in charge of arts and entertainment programs. The ABC's executive head of content creation, Courtney Gibson, is Acting Head of Comedy until a replacement is found.

In a statement Mr Scott said: "The segment should not have been broadcast. We recognise that it caused unnecessary and unreasonable hurt and offence to our viewers and the broader community and we have apologised for this. We have determined this was not a breakdown in our editorial policy processes but rather an error of judgement."

Below is the original CineTopia story, published 4.30pm Thursday 4 June. It now includes the apology material.- Jim S

It looks as though The Chaser comedy crew may have gone too far for the final time.

The episode of the The Chaser's War on Everything that aired on the ABC last night (Wednesday 3 June, 2009) contained a one-minute sketch that spoofed the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the respected non-profit charitable organisation that works to fulfill the dreams of terminally ill children.

The Chaser skit parodied the concept with the Make-A-Realistic-Wish Foundation, which Chaser team member Chris Taylor said was dedicated to "helping thousands of kids to lower their extravagance and selfishness in the face of death".

The sketch has caused widespread offense and was a hot topic of discussion on talkback radio on Thursday morning. 3AW's Neil Mitchell took many distressed calls from parents who had lost children to disease. Mitchell called for the ABC and the Chaser team to apologise and questioned whether the show should remain on air. (His program's attempts to get Chaser team member and executive producer Julian Morrow on the phone proved fruitless.)

An apology was issued shortly before noon by Morrow and Director of ABC TV Kim Dalton stating that:

"The Chaser's War on Everything is a satirical program aimed at provoking debate and providing social commentary on topical issues, current affairs and public life in general. The sketch in last night's show called 'Making A Realistic Wish Foundation" was a satirical sketch and black comedy.

"The ABC and The Chaser did not intend to hurt those who have been affected by the terminal illness of a child. We acknowledge the distress this segment has caused and we apologise to anyone we have upset. As a result, ABC TV will edit the segment out of tonight's repeat screening on ABC2 and online."

In the skit, a terminally ill child whose final wish is to visit Disneyland is offered a pencil case by Taylor. Another who wants to meet teen actor Zac Efron is instead given a stick by fellow Chaser member Andrew Hansen, dressed as a doctor. The skit's tagline, delivered by Taylor is:
"Why go to any trouble when they're only going to die anyway?" Groans from the audience are clearly audible.

Here is the skit:

This, of course, is not the first time the "Chaser boys", as they are often called, have caused controversy with their stunts and pranks. This latest incident again calls into question the nature of what they are doing, whether it qualifies as satire and whether the ABC is serious about respecting community standards in the programs it screens.

A key issue at the centre of this is the distinction between genuinely provocative comedy that pushes boundaries to make a statement and the causing of offense for its own sake. This latest skit controversy is a clear example of the latter.

As a long-time viewer of their various programs I have often found great amusement and wit in many Chaser skits. Last night's hilarious sketch "Oscar Bait" was a prime example.

That said, I have also noted in their stunts of late a growing tendency to see how far they can push their luck by willfully "crossing the line" with little regard for whether something is actually funny or is making a worthwhile point.

It increasingly seems to be the case that what they are too-often after is a reaction - any reaction. There is no skill or wit in that.

Below is an editorial I wrote at the time of their infamous APEC stunt in 2007. I've highlighted a few comments that speak to this latest storm. (Caution: A swear word is involved.) The piece ran in The Age Green Guide on Thursday, 20 September, 2007 (page 33).

Thin line between satire and irresponsibility

WHATEVER one may think of the prank-based comedy of The Chaser, you certainly can't fault them for their ability to convert controversy into ratings.

Last week's edition of The Chaser's War on Everything pulled a freakish figure of about 2.3 million viewers. This was on the back of the now-famous stunt they pulled at the APEC summit in Sydney. Disguised as a Canadian motorcade, the Chaser managed to penetrate the much-touted security barrier surrounding the venue. Given the blanket exposure the stunt received, it would have been disappointing had the show not pulled record numbers.

The stunt, however, clearly got out of control when 11 Chaser members were arrested and charged, including Chas Licciardello, who was dressed as Osama bin Laden, and Julian Morrow, who also serves as the show's executive producer. Not everybody thought it was funny. They appear in court on October 4.

The prank has thrown focus on The Chaser's modus operandi, which has become increasingly questionable and difficult to defend.

The Chaser admit they went too far, and issued a mea culpa perfectly timed to maximise publicity for the show. Yet, it reeked of insincerity. They claim that they "never expected to get past the front gate" and, according to Licciardello, that they "weren't looking for any trouble". Yet, they not only ignored the advice of the authorities not to pull such a stunt, they clearly set out to deceive.

Chaser member Chris Taylor was widely quoted saying that the Canadian guise was chosen because "we just thought they'd be a country who the cops wouldn't scrutinise too closely", and that "it was a motorcade trying to get into the exclusion zone". The Chaser boys clearly need to co-ordinate their press statements.

That the small print on their ID tags declared the hoax has become a favourite Chaser cop-out tactic. They used a similar line when defending their stocking-over-the-head stunt. Morrow says the citizens involved in that gag were in on it - but to learn that you have to listen to the DVD audio track. It's as convincing a defence as the old gag about not having read the fine print in a contract.

Worse, though, is that the APEC stunt could have resulted in somebody being shot. This clearly defines the line where satire ends and wanton irresponsibility begins.

In Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams counsels a prank-loving student about how "there's a time for daring and there's a time for caution . . . Keep your head about you". If The Chaser are lucky, they will keep theirs. If not, they'll learn that they are not the only ones with bullshit detectors.

* * *

News Update: On Saturday morning (6 June, 2009) The Chaser team issued a public apology on their website. To view it, please go here. Here is the text:

"We want to make an apology for a sketch we created called "The Make a Realistic Wish Foundation".

"We've just heard from the ABC that they're pulling the show for 2 weeks. We were keen to keep making the show, so we're disappointed by the decision, and we don't agree with it.

"But that aside, we'd like to apologise. The piece was a very black sketch. Obviously too black. And we're really sorry for the significant pain and anger we have caused.

"Many people have asked how could we possibly think a sketch like that should go to air. We realize in hindsight that we shouldn't have done it. We never imagined that the sketch would be taken literally. We don't think sick kids are greedy and we don't think the Make a Wish Foundation deserves anything other than praise. It was meant to be so over-the-top that no one would ever take it seriously.

"But we now understand the sketch didn't come across as intended, and we take full responsibility for that. Now we've seen the impact of the piece we wish we'd thought it through better. There was no value in it that justifies the impact it's clearly had on people whose grief or trauma is so great already. We should have considered that. We got it wrong. We're sorry.

"We'll be making no further comment at this time."

Questions

What do you think? Has The Chaser gone too far? Have they lost their credibility? Will the show recover from this incident? Or is all this just wowserism? Do you buy their apology? Are they being sincere? Or do you suspect a cynical publicity stunt? Given the apology, should they also make a public statement announcing that they are going to "pull their heads in"? Or would that be selling out?

Are you a Chaser fan? If so, how do you view this latest event? Has it turned you off? Or has it deepened your devotion?

Did you find the skit funny?

And most importantly - should they stay or should they go? Is The Chaser team still welcome? Or have they "jumped the shark"?

Of all the things that make Terminator Salvation the must-see-at-least-twice action pic of the year - the giant killer robots, the jaw-dropping visual effects, the glorious sight of Christian Bale wailing Rambo-like as he blows off a Terminator's head - is that the makers clearly decided from the outset not to do anything stupid, like try to match the dramatic force or cultural impact of the first two films. Wise choice.

There was simply no way director McG (Charlie's Angels) was going to replicate the mythological gravitas set by the original Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, would you believe).

So with writers John D Brancato and Michael Ferris, who both worked on the unfairly trashed Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), McG and his battalion-sized crew have capitalised on the one advantage they do have by ramping up the action in Terminator Salvation to the point of saturation.

The elaborate set-pieces in Terminator Salvation hit you like a shot of Red Bull and the scale of some sequences are positively formidable. And exhausting.

Set in the post-apocalyptic near-future of 2018 rebel officer John Connor (Christian Bale) is eager to bring down SkyNet, the robots-only military network that self-actualised and decided to wipe out humanity, which it saw as its biggest threat. (Is there really anybody out there who doesn't know all this by now?)

Connor has to find and protect Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, Chekov from Star Trek) who is Connor's father (Really, anybody at all?) and is on the top of SkyNet's hit list. Reese, of course, is just a teen in 2018, stumbling about the rubble of Los Angeles with a mute little girl called Star (Jadagrace) and teaming up with the mysterious Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington).

Marcus has been jolted out of some form of deep coma as part of a secret experiment, so while he thinks he knows who he is, he knows something odd is going on and questions keep popping up as to his true identity.

Given the non-stop barrage of digital extravaganzas that get thrown at us every second week the spectacle of Terminator Salvation distinguishes itself through the sheer volume of its action and the eye-popping realism of its superb FX showcase.

The scorched futuristic landscape of Terminator Salvation is strewn with Mad-Maxian relics of shattered civilsation as nasty-looking Hunter Killer ships patrol the skies and clunky T-600 terminators - the model before the classic T-800 model Arnie made famous in T1 - look for humans to toast.

This has got to be one of the most breathlessly kinetic films since Speed (1994) and boasts one of the best prolonged chase sequences since the signature demolition derby in Matrix Reloaded (2003), and while it doesn't quite hit the same heights it does come pretty damn close. Watch for it when veteran actress Jane Alexander turns up.

Pretty much everything in this film explodes. A lot of thought and work clearly went into this, especially when it came to totalling vehicles. It's not enough in Terminator Salvation for a car or a truck to merely blow up and be dispatched with the standard fireball and plume of black smoke. No. It must be disintegrated. Thus when a Terminator takes out a vehicle the thing doesn't just go boom, it explodes with such force the dismembered parts of the chassis go twirling off into the air. It's beautiful.

What sells it all, of course, isn't so much the scale and ingenuity involved but the fault-free quality of the film's vast array of digital effects, which render hulking super-terminator robots and massive Hunter-Killer Mother Ships with such photo-realism you often only know you're watching CGI because, well, they obviously couldn't actually build these things, could they?

Watching Terminator Salvation for the second time on Monday night - really, the sacrifices I make for you people - I did note just how arcane the effects in the first film were. Those of the Star Wars generation who witnessed the evolution of movie special effects from analogue to digital will get an extra buzz out of the visuals in Terminator Salvation. It sure makes you glad you lived this long.

Action aside, what's really admirable about Terminator Salvation is the have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too approach it takes to what has come to be known as the "Terminator Mythology".

We see John Connor listening to the tapes his mother made for him in the first film. We also see the famous photograph of Sarah taken by that little Mexican kid at the petrol station. And the film pinwheels on Connor saving Kyle Reese so he can send him back in time to protect Sarah and so preserve the future.

But as Sarah herself says here (repeating a line from the first film) you could go crazy thinking about this stuff too much. It's great advice. Make the big mistake of trying to over-think the inherent absurdity of the Terminator time-travel tripping and you will end up kicking yourself for having kept yourself from paying attention to all the running and shooting and exploding. As it is, the makers have done the right thing by respecting the mythology enough to incorporate it into the story without leaning on it too much.

As Connor, Christian Bale does a good job as the gruff, eternally angry rebel leader though, to be honest, his performance is basically made up of shooting and shouting. Also, he growls. It's actually Worthington who has the meatier role as he crashes and runs through the adventure trying to work out who he is.

And you can bet your post-apocalyptic combat boots there's going to be another Terminator movie. As Connor's beloved, a cherubic Bryce Dallas Howard walks around the film 8.95 months pregnant, no doubt gestating the next major character in the franchise. And according to good ol' IMDB, McG is already listed as developing Terminator 5, so we certainly have that to look forward to once we've recovered from this.

That is, of course, so long as Terminator Salvation keeps Terminator fans on side. The film has made $112.4m in the US since coming out on 21 May, with a worldwide take thus far of 143m. It's possible Night at the Museum 2 might hold on to top spot here after the first weekend. But not very.

Enjoy.

Questions

What do you think of the Terminator "mythology"? What did you think of the previous films? How many times have you seen T2? Was T3 really that bad? Have you been looking forward to Terminator Salvation? If so, why? If not, why not?

And most importantly - what did you think of Terminator Salvation? Did it live up to the anticipation? Did it live up to this review? Or is it another big-scale letdown?

In another promising sign for local film, Sarah Watt's acclaimed domestic dramedy My Year Without Sex opened strongly at No.9, taking $177,461 ($256,453 for the week) on a limited release of 27 screens and scoring a packed per-screen average of $7098 ($10,258) for a total tally of $219,913 ($299,199), which includes its strong preview weekend. The general trend is that films in limited release need to hit $200,000 in their first week for a chance at success, so it's a good start for this charming, heartening film.

This tailgates the sturdy success of Samson & Delilah, which took $273,478 ($384,208) across its fourth weekend for a total of $1.2 (1.33) million. It added three screens to 19 and built its audience by 17(7)%, its word-of-mouth momentum no doubt bolstered by writer/director Warwick Thornton winning the Camera D'or prize in Cannes for best first feature.

Warren Miller's annual snowfest Children of Winter continuefd to pack them in for a second week, taking $117,782 on three screens, scoring an abnormally high per-site figure of $39,261 for a total of $233,387.

Previews for the highly likeable bromance comedy I Love You, Man took $377,756 over 169 screens, suggesting the film will offer good counter-programming to the saturation marketing onslaught of Terminator Salvation.

Not that it will necessarily be a walk in the park for the fouth Terminator film, with Night at the Museum 2 still pleasing the multiplex hordes. The film took an astonishing $4.1m in its second week, dropping its audience by 27% and racking up a total of $9.7m.

Meanwhile, the other security guard-related film, Seth Rogen's bi-polar comedy Observe and Report, took $168,194 in its third week on 109 screens (down 21) for a total of $1.18m.

With the world still reeling from the surprise hit of the warm-hearted Kevin James Die Hard spoof Paul Blart: Mall Cop, 2009 is shaping up as the year of the security guard. We look forward to the next Oscars ceremony building a montage around this long-neglected theme.

By the Numbers - The Top 20

Box Office Table: Thursday 27 May - Wednesday 3 June, 2009

Rank; Last Wk; Title; Rtg; Distributor; Wks in Release; Total; Chg; Sites; Site Avg; Sites Last Wk; Site Chg; BO Last Wk; Total to Date

CineTopia stresses that box-office performance does not automatically reflect the quality of a film. This data is provided chiefly for your information, but should you have any views, reviews or questions regarding these films and figures they are most welcome.